Hell Freezes Over, Vibrant Gets Froyo Update

Whether or not you believe that all the community outrage at the lack of a Froyo update for the Samsung/T-Mo Vibrant did any good, the update is finally here.

As of right now, if you own a T-Mo Vibrant, you can download the 2.2 Froyo update for your phone using the Kies Mini software that Sammy uses to push builds to devices. If you have questions you can visit the T-Mo discussion thread by clicking here.

We originally thought that this would be an OTA upgrade, but I am glad to see it as a download so people can get it when they are ready (NOW).

Ray Walters is one of the biggest cry babies to post stuff on this site! you should have just rooted your phone and replaced your 2.1 with 2.2! After all that is what Android is all about. Have a good weekend everyone.

Android is not all about rooting your phone… Ray has every right not to root his phone and If you listen to the podcast you will know why he hasn’t.

Ray your a happy camper! Glad your phone got the update (Finally).

cheers

Davest

Yes…every Android user has the right not to root their phone. And those who decide not to have a *little* bit of leeway to complain about slow OS OTAs. When it becomes such a huge issue for someone that he’s compelled to write *pages* of rants on several different days, it’s getting a little silly. If it’s that important to you, just root.

The update process went just as smooth as any other from Kies. I did notice something though, something that I thought was just a “bug” in the custom 2.2 roms I’ve been running..the dimmer control on the notification bar(swiping side to side)has gotten extremely difficult to use. It seems like you have to slide your finger JUST RIGHT to get it to work. Worked just fine on stock 2.1 but has never seemed to work properly on 2.2 roms. For those that may not know, disable the auto-brightness in settings>display>brightness to enable this feature. All in all I don’t see much difference besides the stuff we knew was in Froyo. From what I can tell T-Mobile TV & WiFi Calling are the only additions as far as apps go.

Now if T-Mobile would just fix the data/voice outage in my area(New Orleans)I might be able to actually enjoy some long overdue, already outdated Froyo goodness.

Different David

No prudent executive would think of going forward with a deal unless extensive due diligence has been completed in the areas of legal and finance. This needs to be extended to Customer current, previous, and future complaints.

“…’Due diligence’ is a somewhat technical phrase used to describe a range of assignments, legal obligations, reports and investigations which take place in business…”

Suggestion: ALL senior management and Board Members must sign-off that they personally updated each and every previously sold model phone their company makes/sells and also those companies which allowed on their network said devices BEFORE any and all new devices are released. That way, the pain points would be both known and FELT not as a “number’ rather as an experiential fact.

Spike

I just got my update using Kies.

IY

No thanks, I’ve been running even better Froyo for a while now…….I would call it 2.2/2.3 mix

bapps

What if you have a Mac running OS X (e.g. the big boys OS)?

jeagoss

Ray, i will start trolling you about this soon……

david

“…So purely from a numbers game, why WOULDN’T they treat the whole thing like a big “Screw you”, cause the only ones who will be upset are a tiny fraction of the bulk of their customers, and everyone else they will just convince to go buy the new Vibrant 4g (which is almost the same phone, with an upgraded OS)…”

Except it was in various and many places in the “PRESS” which causes a ‘black-eye’ and more important showing poor ‘face’ which is the only way to get anyplace with Samsung which pulled T-mobile into saving Samsung’s face. As they know a small drop of water turns into a river which then floods which then kills which then and so on….IF all xda/TW/etc folks keep posting issues and get the “PRESS” to pick up the story then and only then will change happen as it did this time. They will wait until FORCED into action as it is in their interest to wait and only after the “PRESS” publish the unrest will they do the ‘fair’ and morally correct actions, sadly…IMHO

If we do not keep the pressure up, many folks can not do the update the way they are forcing it currently (jump thru hoops) when all they have to do is make it a down loadable file off the web.

Ural

Thank you T Mobile. 8Mbps steady!!! download

Linpack average 17.x

Quadrant barely better than the old version (makes me doubt on how good quadrant really is, the diff in the UI is amazing!)

Samsung, nice job. Why can’t you get it right the first time, why the rework. You are not off the hook. If you provide other updates and improve your quality, you may have gained back a few brownie points.

The following is what I have done and is provided AS IS, we don’t assume any responsibility or know if your device may brick or not!.

Its just the steps we took to upgrade. If your device bricks its your choice, I DO NOT recommend you follow my instructions, if you do, you do so at your own risk.:

1. Download Mini Kies,
2. Install Kies as an Admin user
3. Charge up your battery.
4. On your phone, goto.
– Menu
– Settings
– Applications
– USB Settings
– Choose KIES
5. Connect your phone to your computer using the USB Cable
6. Make sure you have a good connection to the Internet from your computer (you will need it!).
7. Fire up Kies as an Admin user.
8. Wait a while until the phone is recognized (if Kies fails to do so, or fails to update, just close it and try again)
9. Press Update when you see the Option (DONT disconnect your phone from now on) this may take up to an hour on slow connections (maybe more). IMPORTANT
– DONT disconnect your phone,
– DONT disconnect the INTERNET from your computer,
– DONT turn off your computer
– DONT let your computer enter sleep mode.
10. When complete let your phone reboot (it will take a while 10 min?)
11. Disconnect the Internet.

Nice upgrade, sorely needed. The GPS didn’t lock fast indoors, but it gave a 5000 ft approximation very fast. It also slowed down the phone considerably, so Samsung still needs to work this out.

Scmo

This is awesome for those that don’t root but want froyo. One phone down, fascinate, captivate, and epic 4g to go.

techman

Samsung and sprint are both lying aholes.They stated that the epic 4g would be the first to get froyo.Tired of my epic getting filled up with apps and not being able to recieve texts or email because of it.Last time I ever buy a samsung phone.

B

Update went fine for me. I didn’t expect much from 2.1 to 2.2, so I wasn’t whining about not having it. That being said, it did sort of suck to have to wait for so long for the update on a “high end” phone (well, for a couple weeks anyway 🙂 ).
Personally, I just read this because I thought the title was hilarious. It actually made me laugh a little. Thanks!

B

me

Update went well but after it finished, i was not able to see the android keyboard. It’s not listed in the input methods. What is going on? Anyone now anything? The android keyboard is missing on vibrant 2.2 update. Anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution?

Very happy with the speed and the crispness, disappointed it took so long.

corey

I have 3 vibrant I my family,.
2 has a newer version of 2.1 &
the other has an older version.
The older one will not talk to
Samsung kies now way no how.
I was able to upgrade the 2 newer
versions to froyo no problem. & man
what a difference. I love it. Faster, smoother,
& the upgrades….. ha feel sorry for the
IPhone suckers!

Tim

I got the upgrade Friday night, 1/21/2011. The upgrade process performed without any problems. This is the same kind of update process that happens BlackBerrys.

Froyo feels like a point release upgrade in that there are not obvious changes but the phone is smoother and faster and just generally works better. I was hoping the GPS issue would be fixed with this release. Unfortunately it seems that didn’t happen. I still have a problem locking in on a GPS satellite so none of the navigation or location functionality happens easily or worst doesn’t happen predictably. With 2.1 (Eclair) I was able to pull the battery then start GPS. Now I can’t even get that to work. It is unfortunate because I use my phone as my GPS when I travel for work which is often. I’m going to have to find another solution.

As far as Froyo goes it is great and a definite improvement. For the less technically inclined or for those with an Apple computer this update should at some point be made available OTA. The fact that it wasn’t now doesn’t bother me. I’m more upset by the timing lag. I read that a T-Mobile representative said future updates will be available within 3-5 months after Samsung releases them. It helps having this information. I just hope T-Mobile will stick to this schedule in the future. My first update was the Gmail client. I use the priority Inbox feature a lot and appreciate all of the new label functionality of the Gmail client. Flash is cool but wasn’t really necessary. I enjoyed most websites without it but having it may open up more content. I think Flash is more desirable on a tablet or larger.

4G or Not To 4G

Great Title!

clocinnorcal

Used mini kies, bricked my phone and wasted hours of time talking to samsung just to have them tell me to call back monday.

Used odin, 5 mins later running KA6.

Gatman

update great had to emergency recovery to finish update but worked fine when finished, loving hotspot, and wifi calling, good update so far….

Sunil D’Souza

Ok, I downloaded Froyo on Friday and I had it through the weekend.

What I like:

1) The Wi-Fi calling feature is great! Unlike UMA on other phones I had with T-Mobile, I can use this with Bluetooth and I had no problems with it.

2) I noticed it ready my SD Card much faster than before.

What I didn’t like:

1) The phone is slower and less responsive. This is very noticeable. It’s pretty frustrating!

2)The phone has also completely stalled on my twice and I had to reboot.

navyret95

I tried to update my phone yesterday. Mini Keis and my phone don’t like each other. Keis keep asking to plug in my phone. And yes I selected Samsung Keis. After 2 hour on waiting to tech support and talking. The said that I need to go to the next level of Tech support. But wait for it, wait for it. They are only available M-F 9 to 6 EST. Great I work 9 to 5:30 with a 45 minute commute. Samsung support sure make it easy to get help (gag gag)

I had to set phone to debug mode instead of keis to get the update to work.. Glad to have froyo. Thanks for keeping me updated on android!

Npianomann

Upgrade process = FAIL… I have never had luck upgrading, partly for the sake that my USB cable isn’t reliable. After the painful process of Emergency Recovery Mode, (which failed also) 30 minutes of finding ANY OS possible, getting the green screen to go away, and a factory reset; the factory reset is what initially upgraded my phone. I was on Eclair, then I did the factory reset, and was suddenly using Froyo. Worth the process though!!!

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